By Rachael Ward in Melbourne

Strike action by Qantas engineers has not affected passengers, with plans in place to keep people moving over the AFL Grand Final weekend.

The action kicked off in Melbourne on Thursday and will spread across the nation in coming days.

“As of early Thursday afternoon, we haven’t had any impact to customers as a result of the industrial action,” a Qantas spokesperson said,

“We have contingencies in place for the industrial action planned on Friday and the weekend and, like today, don’t currently expect this industrial action to have an impact on customers.”

Unions are pushing for a 15 per cent pay rise in 2024 and five per cent per year going forward, which they say would make up for three-and-a-half years of wage freezes.

About 1100 aircraft maintenance workers are covered by the agreement under negotiation, which is about 45 per cent of the airline’s engineers.

Their unions warn the action is highly likely to affect Qantas flights in all capital cities, but the airline disagrees.

Qantas made a profit of $1.25 billion in the 2023-24 financial year, down 28.3 per cent on the previous 12 months.

Chief executive Vanessa Hudson previously said the airline had deliberately reduced its margins on international travel as it worked to balance the needs of shareholders, employees and customers.

The airline refused to accept a “fair deal”, Australian Workers’ Union national secretary Paul Farrow said.

“You can’t expect to announce billions in profits and executive bonuses and simultaneously tell the engineers who keep your planes safe to take less and less home to their families,” Australian Workers’ Union national secretary Paul Farrow said.

“At some point people are going to say enough.”

Workers feel undervalued and under appreciated, Australian Manufacturing Workers Union national secretary Steve Murphy says.

“If you’ve had a bad Qantas experience, well that’s nothing compared to how Qantas makes their workers feel every day,” he said.

“Our highly skilled members deserve fair wages for the incredible work they do to keep us all safe in the air.”

A rush of interstate visitors are expected to fly into Melbourne in coming days for the AFL Grand Final on Saturday, but there were no major queues or mass fight cancellations on Thursday morning.

Further industrial action is expected on Monday, Wednesday and next Friday, which is days before the NRL Grand Final in Sydney.